Superstar Shah Rukh Khan won the best actor award for his role in "Jawan," while the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer "Animal" was named the best picture at the IIFA Awards 2024 here.
Shah Rukh hosted the awards extravaganza on Saturday night with actor Vicky Kaushal and filmmaker Karan Johar.
"For which I'm thankful. It's good to be back. I'm extremely grateful for this award. I love awards, I'm greedy about awards. I'm genuinely back and I'm really happy to end the year like this." he said during his speech in his awards acceptance speech.
The superstar was quite at home as a host, whether it was striking the trademark pose of spreading his arms wide or matching steps with Vicky on the latter's viral song on "Tauba Tauba."
Veteran director Mani Ratnam and music maestro A R Rahman were on stage to hand over the trophy to Shah Rukh, who touched the filmmaker's feet before accepting the trophy.
Rani Mukerji won the best actress trophy for her role in "Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway," and as she walked back after winning the award, Shah Rukh-her co-star in many films-held her pallu to ensure that it did not touch the ground.
Mukerji dedicated her award to mothers around the world.
"Receiving this award at IIFA feels even more special as it validates the fact that 'Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway' made an impact globally in people's hearts," she added.
Shah Rukh was there to lend support to singer Shilpa Rao, who won the best playback singer (female) IIFA trophy for "Chaleya" from his film "Jawan," by doing an impromptu dance as Shilpa crooned the opening lines.
Vicky was definitely having a ball co-hosting with SRK, and he cut a shake-a-leg with his "Dunki" co-star on "Tauba Tauba." They also grooved to "Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam" from SRK's movie "Duplicate," which was recreated for Vicky's latest film "Bad Newz." They also performed on the chartbuster "Oo Antava" from "Pushpa: The Rise" to loud cheers.
The best director IIFA award went to the filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra for his film "12th Fail."
"I want to use this platform to tell the world to cooperate in every way they can to save the world from destruction," Chopra said in his speech as he underscored the importance of cooperation between countries and people.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film "Animal" also raked in wins for Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in the best supporting actor and best actor in a negative role categories, respectively.
Deol accepted his trophy and performed his signature dance hook step from the song "Jamal Kudu" featured in the film, but this time Vanga handed him an empty glass as a prop.
Actor and movie hero Ranbir Kapoor, who was 42 on Saturday, skipped the awards this year to spend his birthday with family. "Animal" also grabbed music direction honours for Pritam, Vishal Mishra, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Jaani, Bhupinder Babbal, Ashim Kemson, and Harshavardhan Rameshwar.
For his song "Arjan Vailly," Babbal brought home the trophy for the best playback singer (male) and the best lyrics for "Satranga" for the song "Animal."
In another segment, Vicky gamely asked Shah Rukh why he never starred in Hollywood films such as "Avengers," "Jurassic Park," "Spider-Man," and "The Godfather."
Salman Khan, he quipped: "I couldn't do 'Avengers' as one of the infinity stones was embedded in friend and fellow star Salman Khan's bracelet.
"I have asked him to give it to me so many times, but he just doesn't listen," Shah Rukh said wryly.
It would have been awkward saying "Palat palat," a reference to the popular one-liner from "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge," to a dinosaur, and that's why he passed over the offer for "Jurassic Park," he quipped.
Doing "Spider-Man" would have made no point as "mere dimple chup jaate" in the mask, Shah Rukh shot back playfully.
He quipped further that "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppolla made many rounds to his house. "But I told him: 'I don't need a godfather, I'm an outsider and not a nepo like someone we know,'" pointing to Vicky, who is the son of veteran action choreographer Sham Kaushal.
The night in the event had also an awe-inspiring performance by the veteran star Rekha, who, along with hundreds of dancers, performed a back-to-back, non-stop 20-minute set on songs, including "Pardesiya" ("Mr Natwarlal") and "Piya Tose" (from "Guide").
Film "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani," Johar's directorial venture, also fetched awards. Actor Shabana Azmi, who essayed the role of lead star Alia Bhatt's grandmother in the film, took home the best supporting actress IIFA trophy, while writers Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan, and Sumit Roy bagged the best story award.
Johar asked Azmi, who has been in cinema for 50 years, to speak about her journey. Her first film "Ankur," made by Shyam Benegal was on 24th September, 1974.
"I am just terribly honored and grateful. You could have knocked me down with a feather if you'd said I'd be acting 50 years later. I'm just terribly honoured and grateful," she said.
Veteran actor-politician Hema Malini was the recipient of Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema. Shah Rukh Khan graciously accompanied the actress to the stage to receive the award as the popular song "Dream Girl" from the eponymous 1977 film played.
"I'm delighted and happy to be at this event which promotes Indian cinema all over the world," she said.
Hema Malini, who had given the superstar a break in 1992's "Dil Aashna Hai", said many young men in her constituency Mathura come up to her asking tips to become Shah Rukh Khan.
"I only gave him a chance. He has worked hard and, with full determination, has come up to this level which you people cannot," she said. "With your blessings, everyone will become a superstar. I didn't do anything. You gave me a break and that's why." said Shah Rukh, promising to visit Mathura someday. "The Indian film industry earned about USD 1.47 billion (Rs 12,200 crore approximately) last year," said Shah Rukh in his opening monologue.
"2023 was the year of parenting," he said in a lighter vein, adding films "Animal", "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway", "Gadar 2", "Jailer", and his own "Jawan" were all family dramas at the core.
From the IIFA stage, the actor also extended good wishes to the newly-beat parents Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone for "one of the best parental films which started production last year." The couple welcomed their first child, a baby girl, earlier this month.
Newcomer Alizeh Agnihotri won the best debutant actor trophy for "Farrey," while Karan Boolani was named the best debutant director for his film "Thank You For Coming."
Besides Shah Rukh and Vicky's performance on "Tauba Tauba," the original singer of the song, Karan Aujla, made an appearance to sing live. The rapper, Honey Singh also performed on his new song "Bonita."
Prabhudeva, Shahid Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor, Nora Fatehi, Kriti Sanon, and Ananya Pandey appeared on the stage of the awards ceremony.
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